Here's a fundraiser idea

Schools in the Twin Cities area are putting on wrestling shows to raise funds for their cash-strapped programs. Here's the article from the Pioneer Press.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a wrestling fan. That's why I'm watching Celebrity Apprentice right now (go Maria, although I suspect Cyndi Lauper will sink her tonight). I'm thinking it might be fun to go plunk down $10 for a good cause and enjoy some good wrestling.

The Wrestler

I usually am not an "Oscar" sucker. I'll go see the movies I want to see and if they wind up getting an Oscar nod, great! I think this is the first time that I've ever gone and seen a film because of its award ceremony buzz.

That isn't to say that I wouldn't have gone to see The Wrestler unless it hadn't generated such buzz. I know I've admitted to this before, but I am a professional wrestling fan. So I would have wanted to go see this anyway. But when I found out that the critics were falling in love with this performance, when talk of Oscars started floating around, I realized I had to go see this. And so I patiently waited for this film to make it to the Twin Cities so I could.

I'm glad I went and saw it. While the story's end was telegraphed from about a third of the way in, it was still heart warming and wrenching to watch as Randy "The Ram" Robinson tries to cope with a life outside the ring. He still wrestles against much younger men. He attends signings where his fellow wrestlers are in wheelchairs and wearing catheters. And he desperately seeks out contact with someone, anyone, who will accept him as Randy and not "The Ram."

I recently read an article by a critic that focused on that aspect of the film, how so many of the characters are looking for simple connections between each other, connections that would affirm their identities. It's also the story of a man who clings to something for too long, so long that it consumes him and becomes his identity.

But for me, what really stood out was how desperately professional wrestling needs to upgrade the way they treat the wrestlers. Especially the big names. Especially the biggest company of them all.

Another reviewer said that as he watched this movie, he said that the "ghosts" of deceased wrestlers like Eddie Guerrera and Chris Benoit came to watch with him. I thought he was being a bit melodramatic until I was sitting in the theater and Eddie came and sat down next to me as well.

Lets face it. Professional wrestling is a cruel business. While the stories and feuds are "fake" and scripted, while the moves are done with safety in mind, it's still a dangerous sport where people can get injured and even killed because of what happens to them in the ring. What's truly sad is that there are probably plenty of men like "The Ram," men who tried to make their fortune in the ring, got a little taste of fame and money, and then lost it all and are now trying to deal with the consequences of their lifestyle. It's a shame that they don't have a better system set up to help them.

So should you go see the movie? If you're a wrestling fan, definitely. If you're curious about the hype, do so. It's definitely worth it.

Jengajam Plugs

I've been listening to a podcast by a guy who calls himself Jengaship. I met Jengaship at Red vs. Blue. He schooled me in a Biblical debate and I really respect him for that. He's a witty, erudite guy and he's now branched out into a call-in podcast called the Late Nite Jengajam. I can't always liten to it live, but I always catch up on my iPod.

Anyway, Jenga recently sponsored a contest at the Jengajam's website. He wanted witty, articulate comments on his posts. The winner would receive some airtime to plug whatever he or she wanted. I made a comment that was basically nothing but a silly sycophantic rant.

I won.

Which kind of put me in a quandry. I'm not some Internet celebrity with an impressive project in the works like some of Jenga's previous guests or even future guests. I'm just a barely published author who hasn't quit his day job of being a Lutheran pastor. What projects could I plug? It felt like something of a waste.

But then I put my mind to it and I realized that there were a few projects of mine (or in two cases, projects I'm remotely affiliated with) I could plug. The list started to grow and, before long, I realized that I had so much I could plug, I would run over. What to do, what to do?

So I decided to simply plug my blog and leave this entry for whoever decides to come along. Sorry for the long explanation for those who tuned in to the Jengajam, but here are the projects I could have plugged:

1) "Adventures in Dating" -- This is a machinima series produced by a lady named Decorgal. I provide the voice for one of the characters, namely Elijah. It's done in the Sims 2 and, to put it bluntly, Decorgal is a wizard with the Sims. She is. If she weighed the same as a duck, she'd be in trouble. As much as I enjoyed the Strangerhood, this is so much better.

I could try to sum up the series, but Decorgal did that already in this handy dandy video:




So watch the video, then go download the series and keep an eye out for me.

2) My TEW Diaries -- About a year and a half ago, someone introduced me to the Total Extreme Wrestling videogames (the current game is TEW2007). Entirely programmed by one wrestling fan in England, the TEW series puts you in charge of a wrestling promotion. You are the head booker. You hire, you fire, you book the matches, plan out the storylines, and try to bring your promotion to dominate the business.

For copyright reasons, the game isn't released with real world data (but the dedicated TEW community has crafted numerous mods that allow you to control the WWE/F and the rest at various times). Instead, the game is released with data for the Cornellverse, a fictional universe with over a dozen different promotions you can control. To put it bluntly, the C-verse is incredible. The backstory is rich and densely layered and fans can and do get lost in it easily.

What got my attention about this game is the "dynasty" or diary forum. People will tell stories about what's going on in their games.

Needless to say, that piqued my interest.

So I created a diary about a year and a half ago called "SWF - This Means War!" The SWF, or "Supreme Wrestling Federation," is roughly analogous to the modern WWE. I tossed in a few characters of my own and I was able to build something of a following with it.

When TEW2007 was released, I started a new diary called "MWA - This Means War!" It's basically a sequel to the first.

I won't lie to you, the diaries are long (especially the SWF one), but I'm proud of the work I've done in these.

3) The Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour - I'm a writer who loves sci-fi and fantasy. I've even written a Christian sci-fi trilogy. Problem is, Christian sci-fi and fantasy is kind of a dead genre. There's not a lot out there and what little there is often gets overlooked.

To combat this, some people put together a blog tour. Every month, we blog for three days about a chosen book, magazine, and/or website. The idea is to generate buzz about the genre and raise awareness so there can be more opportunities for writers like me.

Believe it or not, it actually works. One way to gauge this is by checking out Technorati's Popular Books page. This ranks books by how much they're being discussed in the blogosphere (or, at least, the portion of the blogosphere that Technorati tracks).

This past month our blog tour took place immediately after the last Harry Potter book was released. Guess what books dominated the Technorati Popular Books page. That's right. Potter everywhere! But because of our concerted effort, we were able to get our book up to number 12 by the end of the week.

I've been participating in the tour for about a year or so. It's been fun. Here are a few of my favorite posts that I've made:

An interview with author Sharon Hinck -- Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Sin Boldly! - an essay in which I discuss whether or not Christian authors should portray "big sins" in their writings

Fearless Day Three - From our last tour. I hadn't read the book but I did some fast tapdancing on the last day of the tour and I think the results came out all right.

So there you go. This is why I couldn't fit it all into five minutes! Yes, I need to work on brevity. I'm well aware of that.

Karma's Going to Get You!

I can't believe I didn't mention this earlier.

One of my (obsessive) hobbies is playing computer games. A few months ago, an acquaintance of mine told me about a game called Total Extreme Wrestling 2005. In it, you become the head booker of a professional wrestling promotion. You run a company, hiring and firing talent, booking matches, deciding who wins and who loses, who the champs are, all that sort of thing.

I kind of fiddled around with it for a little while, but then I found a way to really have some fun. On the website for the game, there are what are called dynasties. These dynasties are written by people who are playing the game. They post the results of their matches, they tell what happened, they tell the stories that they're telling in the game. Some are good. Some are great. A lot of them ... well, aren't.

Anyway, I started a dynasty for the Supreme Wrestling Federation, the game's version of the WWE. My dynasty has some loyal fans and I've had a lot of fun writing it.

This month, my dynasty was given a special honor of being stickied for all of July. My SWF dynasty will be at the top of the list so people can always find it. It's the way that the game developers reward what they consider good dynasties.

I had been hoping for this honor for a while and I'm glad it happened now. My dynasty is in the middle of a storyline that I've been wanting to run for a long time. The SWF has been invaded by a group called Karma and...

Wait. Why should I spoil everything? Click on the shirt below and see for yourself. Just remember. "Karma's going to get you!"

I've seen the future....

.... and I couldn't be happier!

Okay, confession time. I'm a wrestling fan. Not the Greco-Roman kind either. Professional wrestling. Yes, I'll wait for you to stop laughing before I continue.....

Well, tonight, I saw something that made me a little hopeful. For the first time, I watched "TNA Impact" on Spike TV.

See, I've been losing interest in wrestling. After all, since the WWE bought out the WCW, it's been the only show in town. And sadly, that show has been slowly losing steam. Vince McMahon, the megalomaniac owner of the WWE, apparently didn't pay attention in high school history class about how monopolies, while a seemingly good idea on paper, really don't work in the real world.

The reason why the WWE was on top of its game in the mid- to late-90s was because of the WCW. Vinnie Mac may not want to admit it, but it's true. As any wrestling fan can tell you, for a short time there, the WCW was on top of the wrestling world. It had better ratings, more fans, was making a ton of money, and seemed ready to destroy the WWE (then the WWF. This was before they lost to a panda). That spurred the WWE on to new heights and forced them to compete. The competition made them better.

But now, the WWE has had a few years of no competition, and it's beginning to show. Lackluster storylines, horrible wrestlers who don't know what they're doing getting inexplicable pushes, it's enough to drive a wrestling fan mad.

So that's why I'm so pleased to discover TNA. They're a young upstart company, they don't have as much money as the WWE, and yes, they too have their problems, but what they have going for them is some pretty sweet action. I watched two wrestlers I had never heard of before, Christopher Daniels and Sonjay Dutt wrestle for ten minutes, and they had me on the edge of my seat the whole time because they were so good.

If TNA could get a little more money and could somehow convince Spike TV to put them in a head-to-head slot against the WWE, things could get interesting. I doubt it would ever happen; Spike TV does not have a good history of working with wrestling promotions in the past.

But hey, a wrestling fan can dream, can't he?